Planer dkive



Jan. 16, 1951 J. M. WALTER Re. 23,331

PLANER DRIVE Original Filed 001:. 21, 1944 3 SheetsSheet l TIYHTII' U UC] U INVENTOR.

Jan. 16, 1951 ,1, WALTER Re. 23,331

PLANER DRIVE Original Filed Oct. 21, 1944 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 fit.ZUiNVENTOR;

Jan. 16, 1951 .1. M. WALTER Re. 23,331

PLANER DRIVE Original Filed Oct. 21, 1944 3 Sheets-Sheet I5 BY *4 ZOJIVVENTOR.

MKQ MQ Reissued Jan. 16, 1951 PLANER DRIVE John ,,M. Walter; Cincinnati,Ohio, assignorto. G. A.. Gray Company, Cincinnati, Ohio, a corporationof Ohiol Original-No. 2,504,366; dated Api-il 18, 1950, SerialNo.'5519;,707, jO'ctoher 21, 1944. Application for, reissue --May- 6,1950,: Seria-llNo; 160,571:

6 Claims.

Matter enclosed in heavy brackets]: appears intheloriginalpatentbutforms no part of'this reissue specification; matter printed in italicsindicatesqthe additions made by reissue My invention relates, to drivesfor metal planers and the like and is .directedtoward an arrangementwhereby floor spacewill be. cone served, and the heavy drivemotor'iorthetable drive'located in the angle between the. housing or column andthe. bed. The illustrated example is that of an open side planer,although obviously-double column machines willibeequally applicable.

Ithas been proposed in the past: to. drive the rackon'the under side'ofa planer table by meas of a worm drive, in which the worm shatprovidedwith'a bearing in the bed at an'angie to the length of the bed,thus permitting the loca tion of the power motor and gearing for. theworm shaftin a space saving positionsuch as employed in my invention:

Such a drive, however, requires a slow speed shaftanda high torque andis not satisfactory in many instances for that reason.

According'to my invention, I employ a high speed shaft, which shaft isthus of lowetorque. Within the bed. of the planer I locate a speedreduction drive which begins with a beveled. (preferably hypoidlgearwhich 'ineshes-with a beveled hypoid pinion supported in bearingswithinthe bed and provided witha flexible coupling to the end oftheuhigh speed shaft. This shaft is also connected to the motor shaftbyanother flexible coupling so that it is a flQatingshaft.

This arrangement permits mevto locate the nzotor for the hihspeedshaitin:the angle between the housing or column and the bed of theplaner, without critical roblemsv of alignment, thus-saving the floorspace usually occupiedby thestandard drive motor for the table i drivewhich is normally at the side of the columnand incidentally cutting downthe'number of gears in the table drive which in the normal or rightangle-drive, have been found necessary in thepast."

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective view showing the location of the drive motorwith reference to the column or housing and the bed, showing the tablein place.

Figure 2 is a plan view of the portion of the bed adjacent the column,showing the drive located therein; the drive motor, drive shaft bearingand the support for the drive pinion.

Figure 3 is a vertical section taken along the center axis of the driveshaft and drive pinion on a larger scale.

The illustrated example of my invention embodies a bed 1, with ways 2thereon, and a column or housing 3. Mounted on the bed, and

with Vs to engage the ways thereof is the planer table 5 'which isdriven by a rack 6, on its under side.

The drive motor, the casing of which is shown at lis located in theangle between the column 3 and the -bed,so: as to' conserve floorspaceThe controls for speed 'anddirection arepart of the electrical equipmentof the motor,"and will be of standard characten, From thecasing projectsthe'shaf 9;- The motor casing rests on the floor and is-bolted to thefloor.

The-shaft 9 is provided with aflexible coupling is which connects it toa floating-drive shaft I l,

which is preferably tubular for'cutting .down

weight while maintaining hightorque resistance.

The shaft i l extends into the drive chamber. the drive chamber withinthe bed the shaft is provided with a flexible coupling to theldrivepinion shaft E3, in co-axial relation.

Located on a pad is inthe: drive chamber of the bed is a support l5-forthe. drive pinion shaft the'fgear ll; and the shaft :9 of this gear hasfixeduponit the. spiral pinion 2G.v The pinion 2B mesheswith a gear '2i, and the pinion 22a on the same shaft meshes withthe bull wheel 22.It'is thisvbull wheel .which engages'the rack on the undereside oi theplaner table. The shaft I9 is located properly to serve also asthe driveshaft forithefeed drive'on' the adiacenthousing of the planer The twoflexible couplings are illustrated as of like structure but varioustypes areproduced.

commercially and will serve the purpose. The one shown comprises twoflanged heads 23 and Z4 keyed to the shafts to be connected. Between theheads lie a series of annular spring steel washers. The flanges arebolted by special headed bolts 25, to the annular assembly of springannuli, the flanges of the heads being apertured to permit this.

Instead of so many reduction gears in the drive chamber, for smallmachines, the number can be cut down using the single hypoid gear todrive the spindle of the bull wheel pinion, a rearrangement andrelocation of parts to accomplish this being apparent without additionaldrawings.

The use of spiral gears in the drive is not mandatory, nor the, use ofhypoid pinion and gear for connecting in the floating shaft. As to thehypoid gear the present form of drive permits their use and theirability to run more smoothly than spiral beveled gears, and their betterload carrying capacity adds materially to the excellence of the drive.

It is desirable, although not mandatory, to mount the hypoid drivepinion between bearings on its spindle rather than to have it overhangthe bearings.

As compared to the worm drive noted above, and generally termed aSellers drive, the floating shaft in the present structure mustwithstand only 1/ to /5 of the torque in operation, as applied to thisprevious construction. The right angle drive shaft construction, whichis the standard drive of today, uses seven gears between the drive shaftand the bull gear in order to locate the bull gear properly withrelation to the point of tool application and clear the planer sideheads at the same time with the drive shaft. Such a gear train uses somegears with no reduction and such practically idler gears in heavy dutyreversing drives such as planers, are simply sources of trouble. In mypresent drive there are at the most only five gears in the train to thebull gear, each a reduction gear.

With my construction I have found that the motor alignment is notcritical even for the smoothest performance. A one degree variation inangle between the motor shaft and the drive gear pinion is readilypermissible with the illustrated form of flexible coupling. With suchflexible couplings are universal joints, which would be satisfactorywith my invention, the alignment of the floating shaft would be subjectto wide variation. The motor vehicles of today use universal joints fortheir drive shafts which are satisfactory in my construction. The

type of flexible coupling illustrated in the described example wasselected because it requires nolubrication and is quite free fromdeveloping back lash in use, but yet protects against simplemisalignment.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is:

1. In combination a planer having a bed and a Worktable reciprocablethereon, said table having a rack on its under side, and said planerhaving a column on at least one side of said bed, I

first gear in said train of reduction gears, said shaft constituting thehigh speed low torque side of the drive.

2. A drive according to claim 1, wherein said train of reduction gearscomprises not more than five gears.

3. The combination of claim 1 wherein said shaft connection is free ofbearings between said flexible connections, thereby compensating formisalignment between said motor and train of reduction gears at the saidhigh speed low torque side of the train.

4. The combination of claim 1 wherein said motor is mountedindependently of said train'of reduction gears.

5. In combination a planer having a bed and a worktable reciprocablethereon, said table having a rack: on its under side, and said planerhaving a column on at least one side of said bed, a drive for said tablecomprising a motor disposed in the angle between said bed and saidcolumn, said motor having a shaft connection entering said bed at anangle, a train of reduction gears in said bed connecting said shaftconnection with said rack, said shaft connection comprising a rigidshaft connected directly to said motor, said shaft constituting the highspeed low torque side of the drive.

6. In combination a planer having a bed and a worhtable reciprocablethereon, said table haoing a rack on its under side, and said planerhaving a column on at least one side of said bed, a drive for said tablecomprising a motor disposed in the angle between said bed and saidcolumn, said motor having a shaft connection entering said bed at anangle, a train of reduction gears in said bed connecting said shaftconnection with said rack, said shaft connection comprising a rigidshaft flexibly connected directly to said motor, said shaft constitutingthe high speed low tc'rque side ofthe drive.

JOHN M. WALTER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references ar of record in the file ofthis patent or the original patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Germany July 11, 1939

